Hard surface covering



Jan. 30, 1951 J. E. HAZELTINE, JR., ETAL 2,539,420

HARD SURFACE COVERING Filed Sept. 17, 1946 UUUUE [JUDGE UUUUE UUUUE IN!'E.\' TORS.

Patented Jan. 30, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT orncs HARD SURFACE COVERINGApplication September 17, 1946 Serial No. 697,560

9 Claims.

This invention relates to surface coverings such as felt base and alsofelt backed linoleum for, floor and wall covering use. Moreparticularly, the invention is concerned with a covering of the abovetype which may be adhesively secured to the desired floor or wallsurface and may be removed therefrom without splitting of the feltfoundation. According to the present invention, the back of the coveringis provided with a discontinuous coating of material to which theadhesive used in bonding the covering to the base will not adhere. Bymaking such coating discontinuous, the adhesive will bond to thecovering in those areas which are free of such coating material and adiscontinuous bond may be obtained between the covering and the base,permitting ready removal of 'the covering without rupture of the feltfoundation. The invention also includes the combination of a coveringjoined to a base by an interposed adhesive.

Felt base and felt backed linoleum are made with a foundation of felt,generally impregnated with asphalt or other water-proof impregnatingagents. In felt base, a wearing layer of paint is provided and inlinoleum a wearing layer of oxidized oil, resin, filler, and pigments isprovided.

The underside of such coverings is provided with a coating or coatingswhich usually serve the dual purpose of concealing the unsightly asphaltsaturant of the base and at the same time sealing it against bleedingonto the face of the material when it is rolled for storage andshipment.

For a great many years, felt base floor coverings were generally laidloose on the floor and were not cemented because of the impossibility ofremoving them when so cemented. The felt foundation is weak and when itis cemented to a floor, the felt ruptures when any attempt is made tostrip the covering from the floor. This condition is aggravated by thegenerally laminar character of the felt, due to the felting operation inits formation, for the felt tends to pull apart at different levelsbetween its top and bottom surfaces leaving an irregular layer ofsaturated felt attached to the floor which cannot, for all practicalpurposes, be successfully removed.

This problem has been recognized, for the advantages of permanentlycementing the floor covering in place are important. Cementing isdesirable since it prevents any substantial expansion of the coveringwhich results in buckling and consequent breakage and, at the same time,it eliminates the use of unsightly and hazardous metal binding stripsover the seams. Of course, wall coverings must be cemented in place andthis has prevented the use of inexpensive saturated felts in themanufacture of wall coverings. In recent years, there has beenintroduced on the market a felt base material which may be ccmented inplace. This covering includes a binder coating, a rupturable coating,and a decorative coating, all applied to the back of the covering. Therupturable coating permits the covering to be stripped from the base byinternal rupture of the coating prior to parting of the felt, and thebarrier coating is interposed between the felt and the rupturablecoating to prevent adherence of the felt saturant to the rupturablecoating. The decorative coating is applied over the barrier andrupturable coatings and constitutes the exposed undersurface of thecovering which should possess a decorative appearance for displaypurposes in showrooms and elsewhere.

In the installation of this material, a layer of adhesive is applied tothe fioor and the material is pressed into engagement with it. Thepartible coating is thus disposed between the felt foundation and theadhesive and constitutes a weak link in the structure. When it isdesired to remove the covering, it is pried loose in one corner of theroom and is stripped from the floor by rupture of the partible coating.This is possible because the partible coating is materially weaker thanthe felt foundation and the coating ruptures internally before the felttears.

Instead of providing a partible or rupturable coating between the feltfoundation and the base, according to the present invention there isdisposed between the adhesive and the covering a discontinuous coatingwhich has substantially no aflinity for the adhesive, and the sole bondbetween the covering and the base is thus effected in the limited areasof the covering which are free of such coating.

Inasmuch as the adhesive resistant coating is substantially uniformlydiscontinuous and cover-i; only a portion of the back of the covering, atain percentage of the total area remains effective for adhesivelysecuring the covering to the floor. However, since this effective areais substantially less than the total area of the back of the covering,the bond between the covering and the base is reduced.

When it is desired to remove coverings embodying our invention, thecovering is pried loose in one corner of the room and is stripped fromthe floor by rupture of the felt or the backing coat in the areas whichare not covered by the adhesive resistant coating, thereby leaving smallareas of felt or backing paint on the base which are easily removed withsoap and water.

Generally, floor coverings are cemented to the Pounds Carnauba wax 112.5Candelilla wax 37.5 Borax 7.5 Ammonia, 26 9.0 Potassium oleate solution110.0 Shellac solution 82.0

Sufficient water to form an emulsion containing 20% solids.

We have found that the best results are obtained with emulsionscontaining 20% solids; however, the invention may be carried outsatisfactorily with solids content ranging from to 30%.

' In certain specific installations of fioor and wall coverings, it maybe found desirable to use an adhesive other than a water solubleadhesive. In such installations, our invention can be satisfactorilyemployed so long as the coating used has substantially no affinity forthe particular adhesive used.

We have found that best results are obtained when the adhesive resistantcoating covers a portion of the back of the felt ranging within thelimits of 30% to 60% of the total surface area. Preferably a coverage of50% is found to be very satisfactory. If a coverage of less than 30% isobtained, the bond between the covering and the base is too strong andthe felt back will rupture in attempted removal, permitting some of thefelt to adhere to the floor. If the coating covers more than 60% of thearea of the back of the material, the bond will not be sufficient toproperly secure the covering to the base and heavy trafiice may causethe floor covering to break loose from the base and buckle or break.

We have found that the particular configuration in which the coating isapplied to the backing is not important; but best results are obtainedwhen the coating is applied in such manner as to form continuous stripsof the adhesive resistant coating both lengthwise and crosswise of thematerial with uncoated areas disposed within the grid-work. These stripsmay be in straight lines or they may be arranged in any desiredconfiguration so long as the elements of the design are substantiallyinterconnected or continuous. If it be found desirable to break thecontinuity of the lines, the break should preferably not exceed .05inch. If a break of more than .05 inch be present, the adhesive bondbetween the floor covering and the base may not sever satisfactorily.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood, the samewill be specifically described in conjunction with the attached drawing,in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of a surface covering embodying ourinvention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the bottom surface of the material showingthe preferred configuration for the coating which has no aflinity foradhesives;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a modification showing a differentconfiguration of coating;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a building structure embodying ourinvention, showing the covering of Figure 1 secured in place by anadhesive; and

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a modification of our inventionshowing the adhesive resistant coating applied directly to the feltfoundation.

The covering shown in Figure 1 consists of a linoleum composition layer2, an asphalt saturated base 3, backing coats I, and an adhesiveresistant coating 5.

Referring to Figure 4, there is shown a floor covering, similar to thatshown in Figures 1 and 2, secured to a base 6 by means of a layer ofadhesive I. From this view, it will be observed that while the adhesivecovers the entire area of the base, it adheres to the floor coveringonly in the areas in which the outer backing paint layer 4 is exposed. I

It will be understood that the coatings l are shown to an exaggerateddegree in order that they may be more easily illustrated.

While our invention has been described in connection with-a coveringmaterial having one or more coats of backing paint applied to theundersurface of the felt foundation, it will be understood that theinvention may be carried out successfully using covering materialshaving no backing paint. In carrying out the invention on coverings ofthis type, the adhesive resistant coating is applied directly to theundersurface of the impregnated felt foundation. Such structure isillustrated in Figure 5 and consists of a wear layer 8, a feltfoundation 9, and an adhesive resistant coating l0.

It has heretofore been determined that there are certain limits ofadhesion, within which the required severance for the adhesive and theback of the material is obtained. Limits of 3 to 30 pounds resistanceare satisfactory, but limits of 6 to 30 pounds are preferred. If thetensile resistance be substantially greater than 30 pounds, the bondbetween the adhesive and the covering is sufficiently strong to preventready removability, but if the tensile resistance is substantially lessthan 3 pounds, there is danger of the covering becoming loose during usedue to heavy traffic. For that reason, a minimum of 6 pounds ispreferred. Felt base products having tensile strength above 30 pounds donot rupture when attempts are made to remove them from blocks of wood towhich they are secured by an adhesive bond which ruptures at 30 poundsor less.

The limits of adhesion may be determined by the Scott test in thefollowing manner:

To one side of a strip of wood 6 inches long and 2 inches wide, a thinlayer of linoleum cement or paste is applied, using a notched doctorblade to distribute the paste or cement evenly over the entire area. Tothe strip of cement is immediately applied a strip of covering to betested, 8 inches by 2 inches wide, one end of which is placed flush withthe one end of the strip of wood, the other end extending free beyondthe wood strip. After rolling to obtain a satisfactory bond between thewood and the covering, the sample is maintained at normal roomtemperature for approximately 4 days to dry the paste or cement. Theresistance of the bond to tensile force is determined by placing thesample in a Scott tensile strength machine at right angles to thedirection of the force thus exerted. The strength of the force recordedas the covering is removed from the wood strip measures the resistanceof the bond to tensile force.

We have found that covering material having approximately 50% of theunderside covered with an adhesive resistant coatingmaterial, applied inaccordance with the configuration shown in Figure 2, requiresapproximately pounds tensile force to remove the covering from theblock. As the area covered by the coating is decreased,

the force required to remove the sample is in-- creased.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 3, the adhesive resistant coatingcovers approximately 60% of the back of the covering. This samplerequired approximately 11 pounds tensile force to sever the bond betweenthe covering material and the base. It will be seen that the forcerequired to remove these samples falls well within the rangerecitedabove and, therefore, covering material cemented to the floor in thismanner would not tend to rupture upon being removed nor would the bondbetween the floor covering and the base be severed due to heavy trafficon the floor.

While we have described and illustrated certain preferred embodiments ofour invention, it will be understood it is not limited to such form,since it may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the followingclaims.

We claim:

1. A hard surfaced flexible covering for floors, walls and the likeincluding an asphalt-impregnated felt base adapted to be removabiycemented to an underlying supporting surface with a bond strong enoughfor normal use and to be subsequently removed therefrom without beingdestroyed by tearing, the said base having a continuous lower facecoated with a discontinuous layer of a wax-including material presentingopen spaces through which areas of said lower face are exposed, the saidexposed areas extending generally parallel with the lower surface of thewaxincluding layer and at a depth uniformly approximating the thicknessof said layer, such that the floor covering is more flrmly attachable byadhesive contacting the said exposed areas of the said lower face thanthe adhesive contacting the exposed surface of the wax-including layer.

2. A hard surface flexible covering for floors, walls and the likeincluding an asphalt-impregnated felt base adapted to be removabiycemented to an underlying supporting surface with a bond strong enoughfor normal use and to be subsequently removed therefrom without beingdestroyed by tearing, the under surface of the cov-. ering comprising aset of spaced exposed areas and a set of intervening areas permanentlycoated with awax-including material having a poor bond with floorcovering cement, the set of intervening areas being formed of adiscontinuous.

surface by cement in said spaced areas than in said intervening areas.

3. A hard surface flexible covering for floors, walls, and the likeincluding a moisture-resistant felt base adapted to be removabiycemented to an underlying supporting surface with a bond strong enoughfor normal use and to be subsequently 6 removed therefrom without beingdestroyed by tearing, the said base having a continuous lower facecoated with a discontinuous layer of a waxincluding material presentingopen spaces through which areas of said lower face are exposed, the saidexposed areas extending generally parallel with the lower surface of thewaxincluding layer and at a depth uniformly approximating the thicknessof said layer, such that the floor covering is more firmly attachable byadhesive contacting the said exposed areas of the said lower face thanthe adhesive contacting the exposed surface of the wax-including layer.

4. A building structure comprising a flexible hard surface covering andan underlying supporting surface, an adhesive securing said hard surfacecovering to said underlying supporting surface, said hard surfacecovering including a moisture-resistant felt base adapted to beremovabiy cemented to the underlying supporting surface with a bondstrong enough for normal use and to be subsequently removed therefromwithout being destroyed by tearing, the said base having a continuouslower face coated with a discontinuous layer of a wax-including materialpresenting open spaces through which areas of said lower face areexposed, the said exposed areas extending generally parallel with thelower surface of the wax-including layer and at a depth-uniformlyapproximating the thickness of said layer, such that the floor coveringis more firmly attachable by adhesive contacting the exposed areas ofthe said lower face than the adhesive contacting the exposed surface ofthe wax-including layer.

5. The covering as claimed in claim 3 wherein the exposed areas areseparated from one another by the discontinuous layer of wax-includingmaterial.

6. The covering as claimed in claim 3 wherein the discontinuous layer ofwax-including material covers from 30% to of the area of the back of thecovering.

7. The building structure claimed in claim 4 wherein the bond betweenthe flexible hard surface covering and the underlying supporting'surface is less resistant to tensile force than is themoisture-resistant felt base.

8. The building structure claimed in claim 4 wherein the bond betweenthe flexible hard surface covering and the underlying supportingsurfaceis capable of rupture by tensile forces rang-- ing between 6and 30pounds.

9. The covering as claimed in claim 3 wherein the discontinuous layer ofwax-including material comprises a solids content ranging between 10%and 30%.

JAMES E. HAZELTINE, JR. CATHERINE S. CARR.

REFERENCES crrr-zn The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

